"Who the fuck are you?", asked Clough, to which he replied " I'm here for the interview you promised me, I've brought my letter". Hamilton mentions in his book *Provided You Dont Kiss Me* that the effort it took to not stammer and not get fazed was humongous - I feel ya man!
Clough loved a drink and a conversation with people he likes and he doesn't connect with many. "Would've offered you a drink if you weren't a kid", Clough exclaimed, giving the young man an orange juice and sipped his favorite wine.
Clough connected with people who liked cricket, ones who belonged to North-East England (For some reason) and Hamilton qualified in both categories. Clough kept shooting questions at Hamilton for three minutes about his personal life, before giving the journo a chance to do so, for 19 minutes.
The young journalist had one strong feeling watching the confidence of the legend that is Brian Clough - This man was up for something very huge. It was almost like he knew he was destined for greatness, and boy, what he achieved with Nottingham Forest and Derby can never ever be forgotten.
Hamilton was one of the luckiest to have witnessed the Forest Fairytale unfold, with Clough wearing the director's hat.
From second division of the English tier, he made Derby and Forest crawl up to the top division. He made them win the top division title as well, which made him "ONE OF THE FOUR MANAGERS IN ENGLISH FOOTBALL HISTORY TO WIN THE LEAGUE TITLE WITH TWO CLUBS". English football fans who didn't know, sink it in, and he did it with clubs who were in second division when he took over.
The pinnacle of Clough's legendary career was in 1978 and 1979, when the man went another notch and took Nottingham Forest to the European everest, the European Cup (Champions League now). Not once, but twice, in a row.
His better half in his managerial career, Peter Taylor retired in 1982. Taylor was the most influential figure in Clough's cabinet and after him, despite spending 11 more years with Forest, Clough was never the same. He retired in 1993 when Forest were relegated. 11 years later, drinking problem took his life after a failed lives transplant.
Clough was one of Football's most glorious characters, a story worthwhile knowing. Passionate, angry, dedicated, affectionate - He showed all the extreme emotions giving no fuss about anything. His ending wasn't as glorious as the middle bits were, but he was the man who made even Bob Paisley worry a lot of times (Which in itself is a great compliment).
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